Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
3 MUSICAL INTERACTION AND CHANGES
3.2 Musical Instruments
When the discussion on improving congregational singing spread in the newspapers in the second half of the century, a debate arose as to which musical instrument was the most practical for teaching parishioners to sing. At first, discussing vari-ous musical instruments did not entail a question about accompaniment. Even at the end of the century, when there already was an organ or an organ harmonium in most churches, many parishioners as well as churchwardens preferred unison singing without accompaniment (see e.g. G. Lindell 1861/1874, 13). The reason for this was that the first experiences with organ accompaniment were not always positive. Many churchwardens and organists did not know how to play in such a way that the accompaniment would have supported the congregational singing; it rather
hindered it. In addition, versions of the melodies in hand-written or printed cho-rale books were often different from parishioners’ own variants. For these reasons, in many churches, the congregation stopped singing altogether (Vapaavuori 1997, 198–199). Therefore, musical instruments were not meant to be used first and fore-most for accompaniment but preferably for learning melodies. Usually, there were two instruments mentioned in newspapers: psalmodikon85 and violin.
Psalmodikon
The psalmodikon (see Figure 2) is a single-stringed instrument that was usually played by laying it on a table and using a bow. A string made from a sheep intestine stretched over a long wooden box with a fretted, hardwood fingerboard marked in half-steps and notation numbers marked beside the fingerboard. It is possible to play only slow tunes within a two-octave range with this simple, usually homemade instrument that can be played by people with little musical training (Kukkasela 1857, 51–53; Kuuliala 1960, 52–53; Leisiö 1976, 74).
In 1830, the Swedish Lutheran pastor Johan Dillner (1785–1862) published his fa-mous book Psalmodikon, which was a hymnal with numerical notation called sifferskrift (see Figure 3). Among some other scholars, Kaarlo Jalkanen (1976, 66), Herbert Tampere (1975, 41) and Igor Tõnurist (1996, 128–129) think that Dillner himself developed the psalmodikon on the basis of the monochord and zither, but that cannot be the whole truth. According to Folke Bohlin (1992, 92), it was developed earlier in Denmark and already spread widely in Norway. Leif Eeg-Olofsson (1978, 230) states that in Denmark the psalmodikon and numerical notation were already in use in the early 1820s. Likewise, in Norway, Christian Gottfried Bohr (1773–1832) had published the first publication with numerical notation in 1825 (ibid., 231). It spread wider there, however, when Lars Roverud improved the instrument and made changes in the numerical notation. He also received official authorisation from the State Church in Norway in 1835 when the Royal Resolution was issued, according to which the psalmodikon was an acceptable musical instrument to be played in church to improve congregational singing because only slow melodies could be played but not fast dance tunes (Løchen 1958, 87–93). In addition, many Norwegian and
Swed-85 Virsikannel in Finnish, psalmodikon in Swedish, moldpill or mollpill in Estonian.
ish immigrants brought the psalmodikons along with them to North America and continued using them in their homes, churches and schools (Eeg-Olofsson 1978, 252–254; Melloh 1981, 274). No information about Finnish immigrants using this instrument there has been found, however.86 In Estonia, the psalmodikon was used especially in the western and northern coastal areas, where the Swedish-speaking population lived. It was also known among the Lutherans in Livonia, Courland and, to a small extent Lithuania (Eeg-Olofsson 1978, 252; Tampere 1975, 41; Tõnurist 1996, 127–129; Siitan 2003, 66–67).
86 Melloh gave this information in 1981, but the situation has not changed. At least I have not found any references whatsoever about the psalmodikon among American Finns.
Figure 3. The beginning of the Sanctus in sifferskrift numerical notation. Ehrström 1837, 9.
Figure 2. Psalmodikon. Photo: Jaana Maijala 2014 HKM / Helsinki City Museum. CC BY 4.0.
Table 3. Collections for the psalmodikon in sifferskrift numerical notation that include hymns or liturgical melodies, published in nineteenth-century Finland. Abbreviations; hymnal = incl. all of the chorales of the Finnish and/or Swedish Hymnals, hymns = incl. a limited number of chorales, Mass
= liturgical melodies, one = in one part, many = in many parts. Wauhkonen 1884 and O. and J. Valve 1889 do not include sifferskrift with numbers but note letters. In addition to one-part melodies, För-beredande öfningar 1847 and both of A.W. Carlson’s 1882 editions include two-part settings, and Bucht 1847 includes many four-part settings and one three-part setting.
year author title hymnal hymns Mass one many
1837 F.A. Ehrström Suomalainen messu x x
1837 B.N. Hagelin Wirsi kantele, tahi Suomalaisiin
wirsiin nuotit x x
1847 Förberedande öfningar x x x
1856 J.V. Murman Suomalainen messu x x
1857 H. Bucht Wirsi-Kirjaan Nuotit x x x
1859 J.A.G. Hymander Suomalainen messu, Swenska mässan x x 1862 K. Saarelainen Nuotti-kirja, Suomenkieliseen
Wirsi-Kirjaan x x
revised editions 1875 and 1883 x x x
1869 J.R. Enckell Wirsi-Kantele tahi Suomalaisiin
wirsiin nuotit x x
1869 unknown Wirsi-Kantele tahi Suomalaisiin
wirsiin nuotit, Kuopio x x
1872 J. Asp Suomalaisien Wirsien Nuotti-Kirja x x
1882 A.W. Carlson 60 Koraali-Nuottia x x x
1882 A.W. Carlson 60 Choral-Melodier x x x
1884 D. Wauhkonen Suomalaisten Virtten Nuotti Kirja x x
1889 J. Ketonen Uusi wirsikannel, Ny sångharpa x x x
revised edition 1890 x x x
1889 A. Nuutinen Numero-Nuottikirja x x
1889 O. and J. Valve Uuden virsikirjan ja Messujen sävelistö x x x
1891 J. Laitinen Yksinkertainen Numero-Nuottiwihko x x
1892 J.A.G. Hymander Wirsi-Kantele, Psalmodikon x x
In 1836, Dillner’s preface to the Psalmodikon was published in Helsinki with the title Inledning till melodierna för Svenska kyrkans psalmer (‘Introduction to the Melodies for the Hymns of the Church of Sweden’), which means that the psalmodikon had either already spread in Finland or was just about to. The first Finnish publications with sifferskrift numerical notation were printed the next year, in 1837. The prefaces for both of them, Fredrik August Ehrström’s Suomalainen messu (‘The Finnish Mass’) and Bror Nils Hagelin’s (1796–1840) Wirsi Kantele87 (‘The Psalmodikon’), were the first widely targeted public commitments for improving congregational singing. Af-ter that, many other collections for hymns and liturgical melodies with sifferskrift were published, the last one in 1889 (see Table 388).
With the first publications, Finnish clergymen and churchwardens began to buy and build psalmodikons for improving congregational singing and standardising chorale melodies. The psalmodikon was used also in primary schools (Pajamo 1976, 177–
178). It was a familiar and well-known instrument in Ingria as well. For example, Vic-ar Aloys Jeremias Piispanen (1832–1909) used it in MVic-arkkova and JärvisaVic-ari pVic-arish in the 1860s, and teacher Paavo Räikkönen (1857–1935) ordered thirty instruments from Finland for the Lempaala Singing Society in 1879 (Lauluseurojen synty 1924, 355/1925, 20; Murtorinne 2015, 174). Many other teachers also purchased psalm-odikons from Finland, and perhaps for that reason, the instrument was sometimes called a ‘Finnish violin’ in Ingria (Tõnurist 1996, 130). At the meeting of Ingrian primary school teachers in Lempaala in 1882, one of the goals for singing in primary schools was knowing the notes and playing the psalmodikon (Flink 2000, 187).
87 According to Heikki Laitinen (2003, 143), the Finnish name virsikantele was skillfully propagan-dist because it combined nationalist and religious values; virsi means ‘hymn,’ and the kantele is a tra-ditional Finnish and Karelian plucked string instrument entirely unlike the psalmodikon.Interestingly, Laitinen also notices that on the front cover of Dillner’s Psalmodikon, the instrument is surrounded by clouds and stars; in the logo of the Finnish Literature Society, drawn by Magnus von Wright (1805–1868) a few years later, the kantele is similarly surrounded by clouds and stars.
88 There are tables of Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and American-Swedish publications for the psalmodikon in Eeg-Olofsson and Ostenfeld 1978. At least the table of Finnish publications (ibid., 30–31), by Eeg-Olofsson, is incomplete. He also lists Kukkasela 1857, Koululasten wirsikirja 1892 and Koulun Koraali-wirsikirja 1898, but I have left them out of the Table 3 because there is no sifferskrift numerical notation in them, only instructions on how to build a psalmodikon. Eeg-Olofsson has not noticed either that Dillner 1836 is only the preface of the Psalmodikon.
Unlike the violin, the psalmodikon was meant only for learning melodies, and it was not used as a solo or accompaniment instrument. However, there is some informa-tion about different kinds of use. According to Päivikki Suojanen (1984, 13–14), the psalmodikon was probably used sometimes to support the folk hymn-singing at the gatherings of some awakening movements. The teacher of Rytty primary school in Sortavala rural commune, Antti Pitkänen, made his pupils craft their own psalmodikons and summoned a psalmodikon band to perform at the end-of-semes-ter festivities (Kuuliala 1960, 54). In addition, Pajamo (1976, 177–178) has found comments about pupils accompanying hymns on the psalmodikon at morning as-semblies in primary schools.
The psalmodikon spread quickly in Finland in the second half of the nineteenth century and became very popular especially in Eastern Finland; in Viipuri Province, there were some parishes in which there was a psalmodikon in every village or even in every house (Kansan Lehti 22 February 1868). As Bishop of Savonlinna, O.I. Colliander (1907, 86–92) asked the parishes of his diocese for information on the state of congregational singing in the first decade of the twentieth century. According to the survey, the psalmodikon was used in almost all of the parishes, at least to some extent.
Many churchwardens in numerous Finnish parishes used the psalmodikon at con-firmation schools and other hymn-singing rehearsals (Vapaavuori 1997, 178–179).
Likewise, many primary school teachers found it an excellent tool for teaching hymn and other song melodies; some of them even claimed that the psalmodikon should have become a common item in every household (Kansakoulukokous 1875, 10–12).
Violin
At first, the violin was a more familiar instrument for Finns than the psalmodikon.
According to Erkki Ala-Könni (1986, 13), the violin was used as early as the seven-teenth century, but it was mostly considered a profane instrument. Ala-Könni had nevertheless also heard oral tradition about the use of the violin for supporting con-gregational singing in some churches as well as at ambulatory89 and Sunday schools.
89 Kiertokoulu in Finnish, ambulerande skola in Swedish. In the seventeenth century, churchwardens and teachers started to ambulate from village to village, teaching children to read and write, calculate, sing hymns and learn the basics of Christianity. The ambulatory schools remained an important part
The violin’s favourers emphasised that playing the instrument also trained the ear, whereas its opponents said it was too difficult for ordinary people to learn to play it, and that is why they preferred the psalmodikon (Vapaavuori 1997, 174–179). For instance, the Churchwarden of Haapavesi, Robert Lehrbäck preferred the violin be-cause unlike the psalmodikon, by playing the violin a churchwarden learned the dif-ference between major and minor scales as well as note values. He had also noticed that the more one played the violin, the better the ear became (Oulun Wiikko-Sanomia 21 April 1860).
Pipe Organ
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there were only thirty-three organs in all of Finland. The reason for such a low number of instruments was that after the Great Wrath90 (1713–1721), in which Russia occupied Finland during the Great Northern War, inflicting huge casualties and employing scorched-earth tactics, Fin-land was a quite shattered country and could only recover very slowly. Consequently, very few pipe organs were remained in the whole country. During the first third of the nineteenth century, only three new organs were built by Swedish organ builders (Pajamo and Tuppurainen 2004, 197–199; Pelto 2014, 51–53, 83; Tuppurainen 1980, 12). Most of the organs were small, with only one manual with pull-down pedals.
In addition, almost all of the surviving organs were located in the coastal areas, but not inland (K. Jalkanen 1976, 20). In the 1830s and 1840s, Estonian Johan Råman (1779–1847), who lived in Hämeenlinna, built at least two and Gustav Andersson (1797–1872) from Sweden three organs in Finnish churches (Pelto 2014, 54–58).
In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, organs rapidly increased in number, alongside the building of many new churches (K. Jalkanen 1976, 18). Steady organ building in Finland began with the Swedish-born Anders Thulé (1813–1872) in 1843. He was active in Kangasala in Tavastia91, where his work was later
contin-of the popular education system in Finland by the early twentieth century. Even after the 1866 Im-perial Announcement on Primary Education they made it possible to bring education to rural areas, where the economic situation, geography or attitudes would not have permitted the establishment of a primary school (see further Kotilainen 2013).
90 Isoviha in Finnish, Den stora ofreden in Swedish.
91 Häme in Finnish, Tavastland in Swedish.
ued by his son Bror Axel Thulé (1847–1911). A bit later, in 1870, the Danish-born Jens Alexander Zachariassen (1839–1902) started building organs in Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. These two workshops produced almost ninety per cent of all of the organs built in Finland during the nineteenth century (Pelto 1994, 18–24).
Some individuals also built organs as well as three smaller organ workshops. Johan Fredrik Buchert (1796–1851) from Courland established a workshop in Sakkola in the Karelian Isthmus in 1850, and his sons continued to work after his death the following year. Juho Albanus Jurva (1861–1908) worked for six years at Walcker’s or-gan factory in Germany and established his workshop in Lahti in 1893. Karl Gustaw Wikström (1861–1908) studied organ building at the Kempis Organ Builders and the Roosevelt Organ Works in New York and started then a workshop in Naantali near Turku (Pelto 2014, 74–80). Organ building was not only domestic production;
many organs built in the latter part of the century were purchased from abroad, about ten from Sweden and at least eight from Gustav Normann (1821–1893) in Estonia, with one instrument from Denmark as well (Pelto 2014, 62, 80–81). At the end of the century organs could be found in most of the parishes in the Dioceses of Turku and Porvoo and in every other parish in the Dioceses of Savonlinna and Kuopio (K. Jalkanen 1978, 18–20). Organs at that time numbered over three hun-dred (Pelto 1994, 20).
Anders Thulé also built chamber organs for smaller spaces. According to Pentti Pelto (1993, 3, 7, 12, 17), he used technical solutions that differed from the church organ, even though these chamber organs were pipe organs with bellow works. The sound was different as well, soft and intimate. The chamber organ took up as much space on the floor as a nineteenth-century square piano; the keyboard was also similar to that of the square piano and thus differed from the church organ. Many chamber organs were in large houses where they were played at banquets and celebrations.
They were also well suited to the accompaniment for singing together. For example, the founder of the Evangelical Movement, F.G. Hedberg had a home organ built by Anders Thulé, on which he played hymns and songs of the Siionin kannel. From the 1890s on, B.A. Thulé built school organs, which, as the name implies, was intended for schools; technically they resembled the harmonium (Pelto 2014, 69).
Alongside the new instruments, sheet music material for accompanying hymns and liturgical music was also published. The oldest surviving hand-written four-part chorale book for organ accompaniment was written by Erik Hagfors92 in Helsinki in 1846 (Pajamo and Tuppurainen 2004, 206). The first published four-part chorale book, which also included liturgical melodies, was edited by the Churchwarden of Vaasa, Anders Nordlund in 1850 (Vapaavuori 1997, 227–236). In his preface, Nor-dlund says that he has followed Vogler (1799), Rinck (1814) and Hæffner’s (1819) chorale books. According to Vapaavuori’s (1997, 235) calculations, Nordlund had taken two-thirds of the four-part settings from Hæffner. An alternative chorale book was published in 1871, chiefly edited by Rudolf Lagi and finished after his death by Richard Faltin. Erik August Hagfors (1827–1913) published a revised edition of Nordlund’s chorale book in 1876 (ibid., 266–275, 283–287). After authorising new Finnish and Swedish Hymnals in 1886, the General Synod appointed a chorale com-mittee to compile an official one-part chorale book. Before publishing the proposal, the Chair of the Committee, O.I. Colliander sent the melodies to Richard Faltin and asked him to make four-part arrangements for an accompaniment book. Together they published a new chorale book in 1888, a year before the committee’s proposal.
The General Synod did not authorise the melodies, but in practice, these versions became semi-official because Colliander and Faltin’s Chorale Book spread widely in Finland, especially after revised editions came out in 1891 and 1897 (Colliander 1898, 13, 32; Pajamo and Tuppurainen 2004, 240–245).
The Ingrian situation was similar to Finland’s. In the first half of the nineteenth century, few churches had organs; apparently, the only Lutheran churches to have organs at that time were found in Saint Petersburg (Ehrström 1829, 38, 105; Kaja-nus 1980 [s.a.], 17, 35; see also Kravchun 2009). In the second half of the century, however, many churches were built and along with them, organs. At the end of the century, there were organs in at least every third Ingrian church (Kravchun 2009, 9, 12–47).
92 Erik Hagfors’ Chorale Book is unfortunately lost, at least for now. According to Reijo Pajamo (1995, 32), it was in the library of the Sibelius Academy. He has also told me that in practice it was probably preserved in the Department of Church Music. Nevertheless, I have not found it in either of them or in the places where some materials have been moved from the department.
In nineteenth-century Finland, every now and then, there were organ concerts in churches, but in such cases, there was always another performer, either a singer, instrumentalist or choir, and at least one hymn (Urponen 2010, 25–27). The idea of miscellany had been a norm in Europe from the late eighteenth century on, also in sacred concerts (Weber 2008, 1, 40–42). In the first half of the century these additional performers were local amateurs who were replaced by professional art-ists in the late nineteenth century (Urponen 2010, 25–27). Among those who gave concerts were organists from Germany and Sweden as well as organ teachers at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, founded in 1862 (Urponen 2010, 27–36, 41; Pajamo and Tuppurainen 2004, 328; Tuppurainen 1980, 14–15).
Finnish organists began giving regular concerts in the 1850s, the first of which was given by Rudolf Lagi at Saint Nicholas’ Church in Helsinki, followed by his German-born successor, Richard Faltin. Oscar Pahlman (1839–1935) and Lauri Hämäläinen gave concerts from the 1860s on, Oskar Merikanto and Karl Sjöblom (1861–1939) from the 1880s on. There were concerts outside Helsinki as well, es-pecially in Turku and in Vaasa (Pajamo and Tuppurainen 2004, 326, 329; see also Urponen 2010, 39–69).
Even though many people preferred unaccompanied congregational singing, some-times accompaniment was considered a vehicle for improving it. The more organs were built, the more this topic was discussed. In the churchwarden-organist schools, the most important subject in organ instruction was chorale playing, although mod-ulation skills were also considered necessary. Naturally, the Mass belonged to the programme because at that time, there were already four-part collections of liturgi-cal melodies, and the Mass was meant to be accompanied if an organ was available in the church (Mietintö 1909, 51–56). Nevertheless, the organ accompaniment did not break through right away because in actual situations the organ did not always support congregational singing but made it even more difficult. A pseudonymous E. B. thought in the newspaper Suometar (9 February 1855) that the reason for this was the difficulty in getting the words out when the organ was played. The Vicar of Koivulahti, Frans Oskar Durchman (1813–1880) claimed at the Clergy Conference in Turku in 1859 that where the organ was used, the congregation stopped singing.
While he supported the organ accompaniment, he called for the proper use of the instrument (Minutes of the 1859 Clergy Conference in Turku, 109–110). Therefore, it seems that the problem was the players rather than the instruments.
According to Pentti Pelto (1994, 97–98, 104), most of the pipe organs at that time were small or medium-sized ‘chorale organs.’ Most churchwardens played only litur-gical music and not actual organ repertoire at all. The characteristics of the organ action made it necessary to play slowly, solemnly and ceremoniously, to get the best of the sound. The pipes were voiced by using a technique that resulted in a broad and singing sound, which supported the congregational singing.
According to Pentti Pelto (1994, 97–98, 104), most of the pipe organs at that time were small or medium-sized ‘chorale organs.’ Most churchwardens played only litur-gical music and not actual organ repertoire at all. The characteristics of the organ action made it necessary to play slowly, solemnly and ceremoniously, to get the best of the sound. The pipes were voiced by using a technique that resulted in a broad and singing sound, which supported the congregational singing.